Planning guides: what is in season, which region to choose, and how to get there.
What is bistecca alla fiorentina? Florence's famous steak - a thick T-bone from Chianina cattle, grilled over embers, charred outside and rare within, seasoned only with salt, oil and rosemary, sold by weight and shared. How it's cooked, how to order it, and where to try it.
How a Florence cooking class works: make fresh pasta (pici, ravioli, pappardelle), often pizza, tiramisù or gelato, frequently after a Mercato Centrale or Sant'Ambrogio market shop, then eat it with Chianti. What you cook, city vs villa classes, and how to choose.
What to eat in Florence: bistecca alla fiorentina, lampredotto street sandwiches, ribollita and pappa al pomodoro, pappardelle al cinghiale, crostini di fegatini and cantucci with Vin Santo - the Tuscan dishes to order and where to eat.
A flexible Tuscan wine route from the Chianti hills through Montalcino (Brunello) and Montepulciano (Vino Nobile) into the Val d'Orcia, with Vernaccia around San Gimignano - how many days, where to base, and how to travel it. Suggestions, not a fixed schedule.
A flexible 3-day Florence food and wine itinerary: the Mercato Centrale and Sant'Ambrogio markets and a food tour, a pasta or gelato cooking class with a Tuscan wine tasting, then a Chianti vineyard day trip. Suggestions, not a fixed schedule.
A flexible 3-day Istria food and wine itinerary: hunt truffles near Motovun, taste Malvazija and Teran wines and award-winning olive oil in the hill towns, then eat fresh fish on the coast at Rovinj and Pula. Suggestions, not a fixed schedule.
What to eat on Hvar: gregada (the island white fish and potato stew), fresh grilled fish and shellfish, lamb and octopus peka, and Hvar's own Plavac Mali and Bogdanuša wines - the dishes to order and where to eat on the island.
What is peka? Croatia's slow-cooked dish of meat or octopus with potatoes, cooked for hours under a domed iron bell (ispod čripnje) buried in embers until tender and smoky. The versions, how to eat it, why you order it ahead, and where to try or cook one.
How a Split cooking class works: cook Dalmatian classics like peka, black risotto, handmade pasta and fritule in a konoba or local home, often after a Pazar market shop, then eat it with local wine. What you cook, the market, how long, and how to pick a class.
A flexible Split-to-Dubrovnik food route down the Dalmatian coast: black risotto and a cooking class in Split, island wine on Hvar or Korčula, Ston oysters and Pelješac reds, then pašticada and rožata in Dubrovnik. Suggestions, not a fixed schedule.